


Shepard meets Gansey

by sncwbaz



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: COC 2019, Carry On Countdown (Simon Snow), Carry On Countdown 2019, Carry On Countdown Day 22, Gen, even though it takes place before wayward son, i guess somewhere in blue lily lily blue?, idek if calla lily johnson is calla from trc but kajshdkj i guess, idk where in the raven cycle timeline this takes place, it has spoilers about shepard, just shepard and gansey bros for life, somewhere after book one, somewhere before book 4, wayward son spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 20:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21824692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sncwbaz/pseuds/sncwbaz
Summary: Written for the Carry On Countdown, for the prompt: fandom crossover.
Relationships: Richard Gansey & Shepard
Kudos: 11





	Shepard meets Gansey

**Author's Note:**

> after meeting shepard in wayward son i literally couldn’t let go of the thought that he and gansey would make interesting pals, because in some ways they’re so similar. so, even though i feel like this is a very niche topic to write a fic on, and i feel like not many ppl would care about reading this, i couldn’t help but write a fic of shepard going to henrietta in search for magic and meeting gansey there. so that’s what this is. this clearly contains wayward son spoilers, even though it takes place before wayward son, it does have an actual spoiler in it revolving shepard. when it comes to spoilers for the raven cycle i feel like it only has mild spoilers for the first book? 
> 
> this was my first time writing any of these characters, so i'm not fully confident in the way i wrote them, but oh well. it was fun writing this. i hope that the few ppl who actually care about these two idiots meeting will enjoy this.
> 
> (also adam is not in this because he's a very very important character to me and the idea of writing him and making him my own character, even just for a short fic, really terrifies me. i can't touch him. he's too precious. so... i mean, he's a busy boy, just imagine him being at one of his million jobs or doing homework)

300 Fox Way, Henrietta, Virginia. That’s where Shepard was headed. 

Henrietta was a name that often came up when speaking of magic. It was a location known for the high magickal energy radiating off of the town, and its strange supernatural happenings. It also turned out to be a hotspot for the appearing of peculiar magical artefacts, though that was a business Shepard preferred to stay at a distance from. 

Henrietta, though. Henrietta he wanted to give a closer look. 

When doing his research on the town, he quickly stumbled on the address 300 Fox Way. The address being home to an abundance of psychic women, well known for their accuracy. If there was anyone able to point Shepard towards the magic of this town, he figured it must be them. Or at least that they would be a good starting point. 

He didn’t know what to expect from the psychic’s home. When he’d called for an appointment, it had taken him quite some time to cut to the case with the lady who answered the phone. She kept trying to give him predictions over the phone, when really he wanted to talk with the women of 300 Fox Way in person. He hadn’t minded much, though. Regardless of most of the conversation being inapplicable to Shepard’s search, he was still very intrigued by all the lady had to say. 

Shepard, perhaps, had expected a rather large house, as it was supposed to house many people, but he found the size of the house to be very average. What he definitely had not expected was the bright orange 1973 Camaro parked in front of the house. It seemed quite out of place in front of this average looking home. The general aesthetic of the car was also one he didn’t associate with psychics. Though, who was he to make that judgement?

The surprise didn’t stop at the orange car. When he knocked on the door, he was quickly greeted by a young man who couldn’t be older than Shepard, though his actual age was hard to pin down. The white boy whore an expensive looking, yellow polo and khaki shorts. Everything about him, from his clothes, to the way he held himself, to the way his hair his hair was perfectly in place screamed expensive. 

“Hello, you must be here for an appointment,” he said, allowing Shepard in. 

“Sure am,” Shepard said cheerily. He held out his hand and the guy shook it. “I’m Shepard, from Omaha, Nebraska.” 

“I’m Gansey,” he said, his head tilted a little as he took Shepard in. “You’ve come a long way, Shepard.” 

“Ah yes, I consider myself an explorer of anything magical, and will allow my search to take me anywhere” Shepard said. 

Gansey perked up at this, “Do you perhaps know anything of supposedly long dead Welsh kings, asleep on ley lines?” 

“I know of ley lines, I don’t know anything about what might be asleep on them.” 

A glint of excitement showed in Gansey’s eyes. “Well—” he began, but he was cut off before he could start his story. 

“Gansey!” A woman shouted from inside the house. Her voice so loud and intimidating that it fully filled the air around Shepard. Had Shepard not already been acquainted with actual furies, he might have been slightly frightened of this one. “Stop holding up our clients with your king!”

Gansey seemed to take no offence in this command and lead Shepard into what Shepard guessed served as the living room—though, later he discovered it also worked as the reading room. 

Here he was greeted by a rather large company. This company consisted of three women: a very short one, one tall and willowy and weirdly faded around the edges, and the one woman who, by the looks of her, must be the one who’d shouted earlier. There was also a short girl, must be in her late teens, with hair that could act like a birds nest—it being just as chaotic, yet just as precisely put into place the way it was. She looked curious and fierce, like a true daughter of the house Shepard found himself in. Besides the female company and Gansey, there was also another young man. He had a shaved head, and was all sharp edges. He had a raven perched on his shoulder, which somehow didn’t look strange or out of place in this environment. Shepard was practically beaming at the peculiar picture that the six of them made. 

“Hello, I’m Shepard from Omaha, Nebraska. I’m here for a reading.” 

Everyone in the room stared at him. The three teens (were they teens?) seeming rather relaxed as they eyed him curiously—except for the guy with the raven, who looked cold and brutal. Though, Shepard decided that that must simply be his way of being. The three women, though, all gave him intense stares. Shepard couldn’t decide what exactly to make of their stares; they eyed him with a caution that he felt was very unnecessary. After all, he was only a simple guy coming by for a reading. How was he different from any other client they would have over?

“I called in for an appointment,” Shepard said, in the hope it would ease some tension in the women, but none of them loosened up. 

“What are you?” The blonde woman asked, her voice was light and airy, yet there was an alarmed tension in it. This question raised suspicion from Gansey and the other two youths in the room. 

“Uh, just a human guy,” Shepard answered. Shepard didn’t understand what he’d done to raise suspicion. Normally, he’d be ready for a cautious reaction like this one, while meeting various magical creatures. In this case, however, he hadn’t done anything that he would assume to be anything but normal procedure for these psychic women. Gansey had greeted him normally, knowing he must be here for an appointment, why didn’t these women act the same?

“Liar,” the fierce one of the three hissed at him, but the short lady interrupted her before she could start threatening him. “No, Calla, I think he’s telling the truth.”

“I am. I’m here because I have an appointment. Shepard’s the name. I’m just a guy, curious about magic.” 

“He is telling the truth,” the blonde one says, her tone puzzled. “But then why is there something dark in you?” 

Oh. Right. 

Something must have shown in his face, because the woman who he now knew was named Calla snapped, “So there _is_ something off about you.” 

“There is, yes. But it’s something I’m willing to tell you all about if you’re willing to hear me out. It’s really not as bad as you might think.” 

All of the company except for Gansey and the blonde woman kept their looks of suspicion, but Shepard was nonetheless invited over to the reading table. The blonde woman introduced herself as Persephone, and then introduced the shorter woman as Maura, and the scary one as Calla—though he’d already fingered her name out. 

“Start talking,” Calla said, bluntly, as soon as the four of them were seated, the three teens looking on at them from the sidelines. 

“Well, as I said, I’m Shepard from Omaha, Nebraska. I’m perfectly human, though I am possibly more aware of the magic in this world than the average human is. I go on journeys to find magical creatures, simply just to get to know them, if they’re welcoming enough.” The guy with the raven snorted at that. “If not, I leave them alone. I promise. Though—um, I did once come across a demon, who didn’t want to let go of me so easily.” Shepard took off his jacket, under which he was wearing a t-shirt. He held out his arms to show the women the black markings there. “So, you know, I’m cursed. That’s probably the darkness that you’re sensing.” Shepard tried to read the expression of the three women as they examined his arms, but failed. All their faces were focussed, but besides that it was impossible to tell what they were possibly thinking. Calla looked angry, perhaps, but she’d done so from the moment Shepard had entered the room. The three teens had moved closer to the reading table to get a look as well. 

“Shit,” said the one with the raven, though he sounded more amused than concerned. 

“Blue,” Maura said, gesturing to the short girl, “you might want to move back a little, I don’t know if you’d be amplifying anything wrong here.” 

Without a question, but still with a curious look in her eyes, Blue moved backwards. Shepard gave her a curious look back. _Amplifying?_

Calla snapped his attention back to the three psychics by asking “So you’re here because you think we can help you with that, then?” 

Shepard leaned back in his chair, surprised. “Oh no, I wouldn’t want to involve anyone else into this messy business,” Shepard said, gesturing at his marked arms. “I’m really just here because Henrietta is often talked about when it comes to magical energy. I came here to explore and figured that the house of highly acclaimed psychics would be a good place to start.” 

“You just want to know about magic?” Maura asked, voice flat. 

“Yup.” 

“And none of this has anything to do with the possible involvement of a demon?” 

“The demon has no involvement in this,” Shepard clarified. “I do this out of my own free will, purely because it’s a hobby of mine.” 

“The dark presence within you will likely affect any reading we’ll do with you,” Persephone said. 

“Oh, it’s fine. I don’t really care about the outcome of the reading, I’m aware that most stuff doesn’t actually work on me. I only booked a reading because I figured that it would be the most fitting thing to do if I wanted to talk to you about the magic energy of this place.” 

Both Maura and Calla gave him raised eyebrows, while Persephone nodded solemnly. 

“And you say you have actually met magical creatures before?” asked Gansey. Shepard turned his gaze toward Gansey, who looked like he couldn’t possibly keep himself from asking for any longer. From the corner of his eye he saw Calla roll her eyes. 

“Yes,” Shepard said, brightly. “I’ve met and befriended plenty.”

“Befriended,” the guy with the raven echoed in a mocking tone. 

Shepard looked at him, over Gansey’s shoulder. “Yup. Befriended. See, most magical beings live in hiding. If you’re just honest and friendly with them, most of them are very happy to finally be able to tell you all that they have to share—most of them are just glad to finally have someone to talk to—or someone to boast about themselves to.” 

At this, Gansey turned around to look at the guy with the raven, a grin on his face. The guy with the raven, however, returned both Shepard’s and Gansey’s looks with a flat stare, his amusement from before gone at once. 

“I think,” Maura said, “that maybe it’s not us you should be talking to.” 

Shepard looked back at the three women sat before him. “What do—?”

“We have nothing to offer you, but our psychic abilities. And those will be likely misled due to the… curse. Gansey, however, will literally never shut up about Henrietta and the magical potential of this place. You’ll find that he’ll be much more use to you.” 

“Besides,” Calla interjected, “I’m not in the mood to deal with another one like him.” She jerked her head towards Gansey at the word ‘him’. 

“Yes, that too,” Maura agreed, which Blue made chuckle. 

A bit confused, Shepard looked from the women to Gansey, who looked nothing but delighted about getting to tell Shepard everything he had to share. “Uh—alright then,” Shepard said, his face slowly transforming into a brilliant smile. 

____

Shepard soon discovered that the bright orange Camaro in front of the house belonged to Gansey. Gansey allowed Shepard to ride shotgun, while Blue and the other boy and his raven—who’d gotten introduced to Shepard as Ronan and Chainsaw (Chainsaw!)—rode along in the back of the car. 

Shepard had asked Ronan how he’d gotten the bird. “Took her out of my dreams,” Ronan had answered, in such a tone that led Shepard to believe that Ronan had been screwing with him, and that further questioning wouldn’t be appreciated. 

After that, Gansey took over all conversation by monologuing for the entire length of the car ride about his search for an ancient Welsh king who was supposed to be asleep on a ley line, and will grant a wish to the one who wakes him. Even though it didn’t sound like the type of magic that Shepard was normally on the lookout for, he found that it was a pure joy to listen to Gansey tell his story. 

After a drive long enough for Gansey to tell his tale, Gansey parked his car in the middle of nowhere.

“Here we are,” Gansey said, and the lot of them got out of the car. 

Shepard must have looked confused because Gansey started explaining. “I’m taking you to the ley line. We’ve only discovered it quite recently.” 

Ronan didn’t look all too excited about the idea of letting Shepard in on their discovery, but clearly wasn’t in a position to speak up against Gansey. Blue, however, did speak up. “Are you sure we can just trust him?” She asked Gansey, sounding awfully judgemental.

Instead of answering her, Gansey turned to Shepard. “Can you promise me that you won’t cause harm to whatever I’m about to show you, and that you won’t just lead everyone straight to this place after leaving it today?” he asked. 

“You have my word,” Shepard replied. “Like I’ve said, I’ve met many—and I mean many—magical beings before. All of them still live hidden in uninterrupted peace.”

Gansey seemed satisfied with that answer. He turned to Blue and said, “I trust him, Jane. Do you?” 

Blue (Jane?) shrugged, and so they began their walk to the forest that lay ahead. 

Ronan muttered something under his breath, but all Shepard managed to catch was “Parrish wouldn’t,” which went ignored by both Gansey and Blue. 

As they entered the forest, something in the air around them changed. Shepard knew about magic—about Speakers, about dragons, about faeries—but the magic of this forest was something unlike anything he’d ever seen or experienced. It felt like the forest was an entire beast of its own. He held his breath as he looked around the ancient trees; as he listened to them _whisper_. 

“Welcome,” Gansey said, his voice overflowing with pride and excitement, “to Cabeswater.”


End file.
